Winemaker Notes
Made from an assemblage from all the old plots of vines on the estate (average age 55 years), this wine is complex. It needs to be opened or decanted one to three hours before drinking to develop the subtle hints of violet which can be detected among the blueberry and stewed blackcurrant notes. It then softens without losing any of its assertive character.
Blend: 100% Cabernet Franc
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
This deliciously, impressively rich wine comes from the Amirault home vineyard. There is light wood aging with ripe tannins and a density that is superb. The wine's future is assured: drink from 2025.
Cellar Selection -
Vinous
The 2019 Vieilles Vignes is not a single wine but a blend of different old vines across the different parcels from 40-95 years old vines. It marks a step up in the range. It’s a supple and well concentrated style with fine purity of fruit while the tannins are fine and chalky. It’s a focused style with spice, delicate smoky notes and dark raspberry fruit. Delightfully handled tannins that coat the palate and make this one to drink over the medium term.
Cabernet Franc, a proud parent of Cabernet Sauvignon, is the subtler and more delicate of the Cabernets. Today Cabernet Franc produces outstanding single varietal wines across the wine-producing world. Somm Secret—One of California's best-kept secrets is the Happy Canyon appellation of Santa Barbara. Here Cabernet Franc shines as a single varietal wine or in blends, expressing sumptuous fruit, savory aromas and polished tannins.
An important red wine appellation in the Touraine district of the Loire, Chinon produces fanciful, light-bodied reds from the Cabernet Franc grape. Chinon also makes charming rosés from the same grape as well as white wines from Chenin blanc. But the reds give the area its fame. Often scented with fresh herbs, black tea and violets, Chinon reds show a lovely combination of fruit and acidity. However, styles have become more concentrated and ripe in recent years from improvements in vineyard management. Modern methods include planting grass between vineyard rows, using higher trellises and deleafing to increase sunlight to berries and therefore improve ripening. Even still, red Chinon is intended to be a light to medium bodied, refreshing wine to be enjoyed in its youth.
Fuller-bodied Chinons come from vineyard sites on the clay and tuffeau limestone slopes, usually from the southern exposed slopes of Cravant-les-Coteaux, and the plateau above Beaumont. Lighter styled wines come from the sand and gravel vineyards near the Loire or Vienne Rivers with the most refined examples coming from the area around Panzoult